Been in salt water on and off for the past 10 years. Deciding to take a break from that and try a smaller all-in-one tank for a betta.

I've done some reading and would like a planted tank with a betta and perhaps a dwarf african frog and a couple small shrimp. Looking around at tanks, I do like the looks of:

Fluval Spec V
Eheim Aquastyle
Fluval Ebi/Flora

Just curious if you guys could help me narrow down which of these might be the better setup? The Ebi/Flora might be a tad on the big side, but if they are the best of the bunch, I don't mind. I do think the Eheim has a good name, but it doesn't look like that one comes with a top, so I'm not too sure if that will even work or not.

Fluval are great tanks, if you've got the money to spend.
In my opinion, you could take that same amount of cash, get a 10 or 15 gal, plant that and put a small community in there. Some neons or mollies or platies, your betta and shrimpies or otos.

Is there any particular reason why you want a small tank? What is small to you?

While a 10g tank is not out of the question, I'd like to stay around 5g for this one. Although I guess I don't have a super good reason other than I might want something to go on the kitchen counter or on my desk or something like that.

I don't mind spending the money for something nice. If a 10g tank is a better way to go, I'm ok with that. I did see a nice looking rimless 10g at the store today, although the silicone job was a bit messy. I think it was Marineland.

i'm gonna get an eheim or zen nano in the spring. i'm gonna have a piece of acrylic or glass cut for the top. there are a few good deals on the truaqua website. $150 nanos on sale for around $70. you'd have to check em out and see if they are your style. the five gallon zen nano looks nice for about $90.00 or so.

I have the Spec v for about two weeks now, no fish in yet.
I chose it as it fit well on my windowsill. It has a very thin footprint- 7 1/4". I also just bought a 2 1/2 Marineland as it filled the rest of my same windowsill in perfectly. And it does have a sloppy silicone job, which I may clean up with a single edge razor blade.

Oooohhhhh, i think I see your tank preferences. You want a slick and stylish tank?
Bigger isn't always better. I've seen some bettas do perfect in a larger tank and some have a complete anxiety attack in larger tanks. It all varies with the fish. If you get a large-ish betta(somewhere around a king) then he'll need a decently sized tank to not look squished in there.

planted it first with an emerged dracenia, added driftwood to prop the lid, and put in some rocks, a heater and a terracotta pot:

then added smaller plants such as wisteria, primrose and hornwort, and now my delta boy Genghis lives in it:

the best things about it: the plants provide natural filtration and ammonia removal without the current caused by a mechanical filter, and it takes up about 1.5 square feet of counter space, perfect for a desk or office fish!